


The Diner

by notjustmom



Series: Ironstrange [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 19:11:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17310242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: I never write true endings of relationships, but I usually begin with the beginning, with these two, I started with the middle, and now, after a few thousand words, here is the beginning...





	1. Stephen

From the beginning they clashed, well, in actuality, they in fact, crashed. Tony later conceded that he wasn't watching where he was going, but that it was completely Stephen's fault, as the reason he wasn't watching where he was going was because he had just seen the most beautiful man he'd ever seen in his life, and was trying to come up with a line that wouldn't scare him off.

"So you came up with, 'I'm Tony, and you're beautiful'?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

Stephen rolled his eyes and pulled Tony closer, then kissed his slowly greying hair. He didn't know how he'd managed to keep it dark for so long, he'd never seen any evidence of hair dye, but, then again, he'd never spent that much time looking. Tony sighed and leaned against him as they danced to their song for the tenth time that night.

 

Forty years earlier:

It had been a crap day already, for once he had fallen asleep, and of course he had slept through his first three lectures of the day, because he never set an alarm, because he never slept. Not that it mattered because he was at the top of his class in everything, but that wasn't the point. The point was he wasn't allowed to fuck up. Stephen Strange knew that to fuck up this early in his career, it's not a career, yet, you idiot, it's three classes that you have perfect, no, more than perfect scores in. Wait, how does one get better than perfect scores, it's like giving 110% which isn't a real thing. 

"Shut up." Coffee. Coffee is needed. 

"And pie."

"Fine and pie." He pushed open the door of his diner and sighed at the line. It didn't really matter because his next class wasn't until tomorrow afternoon, but he could always study, there was always studying to do. He caught the eye of his favorite waitress, and she shook her head at him, but had his order ready when he got to the counter, and he told her to keep the change as usual. Then he picked up his coffee in one hand, his styrofoam container of, he took a sniff and closed his eyes, lemon meringue, one of his top five, if not top two, then turned towards the door, took one, two steps and was about to take a sip of his coffee when he found himself sitting on the floor, drenched in coffee and the remains of his slice of lemon meringue pie. 

He blinked up at a smallish, compact, dark haired guy in dark glasses, faded Queen t-shirt and worn jeans. He was about to jump up and let him have it, but then he recognized him from all the covers of Time, Newsweek, and all the tabloids, from the yellow to the legit. The kid genius, Tony fucking Stark had just knocked him on his ass, and was smiling at him, honestly smiling - he'd never seen a smile so intense, or beautifu - yes, beautiful, and then the glasses came off, and the deep brown eyes twinkled at him as he reached out a hand to help him to his feet, and then he laughed. But it wasn't a laugh of condescension or arrogance, but of being pleasantly surprised. 

Stephen wasn't ever quite sure when he fell in love with Stark, but he thinks it may have been his laughter at that moment, or the way he helped him to his feet, or just maybe, it was because the first words he ever spoke to him as he continued to hold his hand were, "I'm Tony, and you're beautiful," which stunned him into allowing Tony to steer him to an empty table, ordering him an actual breakfast, while he had nothing, then sat and watched him eat, and listened as he babbled about his plans for his life.

Those plans were irrevocably changed, no, not changed, just simply deeply rearranged from that moment on.


	2. Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's side of the story...

Tony Stark was one of those cliched 'poor little rich kids'; he had everything anyone could ever wish for, except, by the age 18, he had never met anyone who surprised him. He had never thought of love as anything but a four letter fairy tale, until he opened the door to a diner that on any other day, he wouldn't have given a second glance, except it was raining cats, dogs, turtles... okay, maybe not turtles, and met the love of his life.

 

"It wasn't raining."

"This is my story," Tony growled into Stephen's chest and cleared his throat. "You had your chance."

"Wasn't raining."

"It was. So I opened the door to get out of the rain..."

 

He looked up at the menu, then lowered his gaze to see the most beautiful green eyes he'd ever seen in his life. And he'd seen his share of green eyes, beautiful ones, but these eyes held an intelligence and curiosity he'd never seen before, and for the first time he was surprised into stillness, and then he took a step forward and he slipped -

 

"It wasn't raining, there wasn't a puddle on the floor." 

 

He slipped and barreled right into the owner of the bright green, curiously intelligent eyes; knocking his coffee and pie along with the rest of him to the floor. He offered his hand and his most charming smile to the stunned and understandably annoyed owner of coffee and pie, and then he laughed. He couldn't help but laugh, as he helped him to his feet, and out popped the only thing that came to mind, "I'm Tony, and you're beautiful." 

 

"At least you remembered the line correctly," Stephen snorted as the music changed to something slower, and he took Tony's hand and pulled him to his feet again.

"I bought you two breakfasts, not just one. You probably hadn't really eaten in days."

"Eating wasn't a priority back then. I had schedules to keep, plans..."

"Yes. Yes, you did. Do you remember...?"

Stephen rolled his eyes, then kissed him softly and whispered, "yeah, I do remember. I remember everything, Tony."

"You don't ever think, or wonder, or regret -"

"No, I don't regret a single moment. No. That's not true. I regret those years that I missed with you. But I don't regret any of the time I've spent with you, not one minute."

"Good. Me either."

"It wasn't raining."

"That's my story, and I'm sticking to it."

 

Stephen waited until Tony had fallen asleep, then asked Jarvis to look up the weather in New York City on May 15, 1988.

"Rained all day, Sir."

"Damn."

"Anything else, Sir?"

"No. That is all, Jarvis. You won't tell him - never mind."

"My lips are sealed, Sir."

"Good night, Jarvis."

"Good night, Sir."

 

"How did you remember?" Stephen asked into the darkness.

"I remember everything about that day, everything about you. That day, that moment, you, changed my life. How could I forget?"

"I love you."

"Yeah, I know, go back to sleep. You ordered two tall stacks of hotcakes, two sides of bacon, toast with orange marmalade...."

"Show off." Stephen mumbled, then curled around his husband and went back to sleep.


End file.
